


How The Grinch Stole Christmas

by AsagiStilinski



Series: Happy Birthday Derek Hale [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 12 Days of Sterek, Christmas, Christmas Shopping, Derek is a Christmas Baby, Fluff, M/M, Magic!Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 09:58:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5412524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What about this then?" he asked, holding up a sweater full of dancing reindeer in sunglasses</p>
<p>"I cannot believe I have to say this," Derek sighed, turning to him and hanging the... thing.... back up</p>
<p>"Ok let me make something clear, nothing 3D, nothing dancing, nothing with sex, nudity, drugs, alcohol, innuendos, or bodily functions, and nothing interactive, meaning no lights, no music, no holographic performances, ok?"</p>
<p>Or</p>
<p>Day 1 of 12 Days Of Sterek includes ugly Christmas sweaters</p>
            </blockquote>





	How The Grinch Stole Christmas

"Do you know what today is?"

Derek glanced up from his book, looking up at the other man as he raced into the living room

"Taking a shot in the dark here but I'm going to guess November 20th?"

"Close, it's the 22nd," Stiles replied as he hopped onto the couch

"Alright... and?"

"AND do you have any idea what that means?"

"That your anti-virus software expires in exactly three months?"

Stiles opened his mouth but paused, eyebrows pinching as he considered that

"...Yes, shockingly, how the hell-...? Look that wasn't what I was referring to though, what's next week?"

"Thanksgiving?"

"... Well yeah but what else?"

"Black Friday?"

"...Three for three but you're missing the point,"

Sitting up straight, Derek pulled his legs into a cross-legged position on the couch and stared at Stiles firmly

"Alright, how about we relinquish the fact that this could go on all day and you just TELL me the answer you want to hear,"

"Next week we start decorating for Christmas!" he beamed

Derek sighed, obviously not as excited

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously, everybody puts up their trees and stuff on Thanksgiving weekend Derek, why? When did YOU do it?"

Thanksgiving weekend, like everyone else actually, but that didn't mean he wanted to admit it

"Ok," he mumbled back, reaching for his book only for Stiles to reach out and take his hand

"That means we need to go shopping now,"

"What? Why?"

"Because I'm not going shopping during the traffic-related hell that is Monday-Friday of Thanksgiving week and I'm not going to be delayed in decorating on Friday and Saturday,"

Derek wrinkled his nose

"We're decorating starting Friday?"

"Yeah, we've gotta start when we get back from the movies Friday so we can go to my dad's and help him on Sunday," Stiles shrugged

Derek sighed, tilting his head back

"So I guess you're wanting to go get lights for the tree or something?"

"Depends, do you even have a tree here?"

Derek chewed his lip a little and Stiles sighed

Ofcourse not...

"Well we're getting a tree and lights and infinitely more ornaments because I only got away with smuggling like two boxes from my dad,"

"ONLY two boxes?" Derek asked incredulously

"Yeah.... we have alot of ornaments..."

"No kidding...."

"Anyway we need to pick up some space fillers, and a star- unless you want an angel, we could do an angel, and a tree stand and-"

"Stiles," Derek interrupted with a sigh

"And anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something,"

The werewolf decided to save his protest for later, he would probably have better reason to use it in about three minutes anyway

"Oh yeah? And what's that?"

"Well.. I wanted to know if you want to go shopping with me,"

Derek raised an eyebrow, tilting his head in confusion as Stiles quickly waved that off

"I... no no that's not what I meant, I mean... do you want to go Christmas shopping with me?"

"Um-"

Stiles cursed

"Look this.. this isn't coming out right.. crap..."

"Stiles, take your time," Derek said slowly

"Ok ok ok... just... ok.. ok crap... um... every year I have these... traditions that I usually do with Scott, and Scott is at college and I was just wondering if-"

"If I would be Scott's substitute?"

There was a pause and Stiles' face scrunched up a little

"N-No... no no not exactly, it's like... Scott's gonna be here this week for a few days and he's going to be back the week before Christmas, so we'll still do our stuff in like... smaller scale, but I was just wondering if... maybe... you wanted to do some traditions with me? Just... for us, as us, our's, not filling in for Scott but just.. being Derek and setting up our own thing,"

Derek pursed his lips, eyebrows narrowing

"Why?"

"What? What do you mean 'why'?"

"I mean why? Why would you want to do that with me?"

Stiles was quiet for a moment, pretending to think about it

"Well let's see here Derek, we live together, we have a business together, we've saved eachother's lives multiple times, and we're co-parenting dogs together, but you're right, it's ridiculous to think that we should have some holiday traditions together,"

Derek smiled shyly, shrugging a bit

"I don't get why you would want to though,"

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Stiles huffed

"Derek, look, I know you have the self-esteem of a very sick turtle, but I LIKE you, you are my freind, in fact, you're more than just my freind, dude, we live together, we work together, you know stuff about me that not even Scott knows, so yeah, I LIKE spending time with you,"

Derek swallowed, nodding slowly and taking a breath

"Ok... ok fine, then where do we start?"

Stiles grinned, leaping up

"We begin.... at the store!"

~+~

"By the way, wile we're here, we've gotta get some party hats,"

Derek raised his eyebrows, turning the radio down

"Why?"

"Because you have to have party hats at a birthday party Derek,"

"Who's birthday is it?"

Stiles stared at him, clearly unimpressed, and leaned back in the seat

"Um, your's? I mean not now obviously, on the 25th, it's your birthday man, I mean I know it's a little early to get party stuff but do you really want to wait until the week before Christmas like an idiot?"

Derek narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared across at him, half out of surprise and half out of suspicion

"How do you know when my birthday is?"

Stiles gave a stilted scoff and Derek rolled his eyes, because ofcourse, he's right, why is Derek even asking?

It'd be a bigger surprise if Stiles HADN'T snooped through his police record actually

"Stiles.... please just forget it," he sighed

"Forget what?" Stiles frowned with a tense look

"This birthday thing, just forget it-"

"What? No! No way! It's your BIRTHDAY Derek, we need to celebrate!"

"It's also CHRISTMAS, you know, the holiday people ACTUALLY celebrate on the 25th?"

Derek was plenty used to this

No one ever remembered or celebrated his birthday except for his family- and even then it was always shared with Christmas

He wasn't bitter about it, just... a little melancholy

As if he needed one more reason to remind himself of how unimportant he was

And he understood that Stiles was trying to be nice but it wasn't worth it- HE wasn't worth it

He knew that everyone else was going to have their own plans and at the end of the day Stiles was fighting an uphill battle

That's assuming Stiles himself didn't have his own plans, wich he probably did, so there was really no reason to even be having these thoughts at this point

"Derek, your birthday is the 25th, that's the most important thing, way more than some international holiday that has turned into a commercial explosion that everybody and their cat celebrates, we get something SPECIAL here, we get YOU! We get to celebrate your birthday instead and that's AWESOME-"

"What the HELL are you talking about?" he finally huffed

Stiles grinned like a maniac and pulled into the parkinglot of the store

"We're moving Christmas,"

"Excuse me?"

"We're celebrating Christmas on the 24th, and Christmas Eve on the 23rd, so we can reserve the 25th for your birthday,"

Derek opened his mouth but Stiles made a zipping motion against his mouth and begrudgingly the werewolf closed it again

"I already talked to everybody about it and we are in COMPLETE agreement with this, look, I'm a holiday baby too- kind of- my birthday ALWAYS falls on spring break, or right before spring break, sometimes it's even on EASTER, it SUCKS! But I mean Easter and spring break are small fish compared to freaking CHRISTMAS, no wonder you're always so cranky! You were born during the most hectic day of the year when everyone's attention is so wrapped up in themselves that they couldn't POSSIBLY be paying any attention to YOU, God you were probably born in the woods or something because the hospital staff was all busy, I mean you know how busy Christmas is for hospitals? Very, surprisingly, and they were probably understaffed because small town plus Christmas equals lots of people skipping work an-"

"Stiles," he interrupted, cutting off the other male

"Do you realize that you're saying all of this out loud?"

Stiles huffed, giving a full-body eye roll

"Look, my point is, your birthday is never going to suck again, I promise, but you've gotta give me a little faith here, let me do this Derek, you deserve to celebrate your birthday, stop punishing yourself for no reason, you have people who actually care about you now and we WANT to do this so just pin your mouth shut and accept our undying kindness, we are literally moving Christmas for you, this is where you say 'thank you' and tell us what kind of cake you want,"

Derek sighed loudly, leaning back and closing his eyes

"Nothing I say is going to make you stop is it?"

"Nope,"

He shrugged, opening the car door

"Fine then, let the insanity begin,"

He didn't really believe it, is the problem, he had no real faith that this was going to .... work out....

But Stiles was nothing if not stubborn and if he wanted Derek to believe something, he wasn't going to let go until he did

So, for now anyway, Derek said that he did, and hoped that his lie was good enough to fool him

 

~+~

 

"Stiles, you do know that the Christmas decorations are that way right?" Derek asked, pointing towards a few aisles to their left

"Yep,"

"And you're aware that the trees are that way?" he added, pointing a few aisles behind the decorations

"Yep,"

"So I suppose it just begs the question... why are we _here_?" he asked, gesturing to the huge section of clothes that they were currently standing in

"Ugly Christmas sweaters,"

There was a pause

"I'm sorry, care to repeat that?"

"Ugly Christmas sweaters," he repeated

"Ok why do you keep saying that?" Derek frowned

"Derek, we're getting our annual ugly Christmas sweaters, please tell me you know what those are,"

"I have a vague understanding of the concept but I don't understand why anyone would want to wear one, I certainly don't want to wear one, so why don't we just-"

"Why wouldn't you want to wear one?" Stiles asked, frowning as if he were almost offended

"Why would you WANT to wear one?"

"Because it's a Christmas tradition! And alot of them are cute anyway, I mean here, look at this one, look at this reindeer, it's cute!"

"It's got glittery pom-poms on it," he replied in a deadpan

"Yeah! Isn't it great?"

"No, Stiles, no it isn't,"

"It is, these are cute! Besides it's the only time a year when you get to wear something God-awfull and also they're pretty warm and cozy,"

"So are normal sweaters, in fact, I distinctly remember seeing an entire collection of perfectly nice looking sweaters at Hot Topic that DON'T have detachable antlers on them,"

"Oh come on Derek, don't be such a grinch! Just ONE sweater, it's all I'm asking,"

Derek thought about that for a moment, giving a slow nod in consideration

"Alright, ONE sweater, but on the condition that I get to pick out the Christmas tree,"

It was only fair, he'd be the one assembling it after all

Stiles' mouth dropped open a little but he ultimately closed it, giving a stern nod

"Alrighty then, yeah, sure, fine, you get the tree,"

Derek sighed, wondering why he was subjecting himself to this just to avoid an argument that might not even happen, but it occurred to him, as Stiles flittered about in between racks of sweaters and cardigans, that it was because Stiles was still recovering, he was still aching from what had happened before, a little over a year ago

For months after the incidents with the Dread Doctors and Theo and everything else Stiles had been so on edge, so constantly exhausted, so drained and so unlike himself

It had taken so long to get him even kind of back to normal, and ever since he may have been trying just a little bit harder not to rock the boat

It wasn't like he was walking on eggshells or anything, he just wasn't quite so quick to upset things when they were going well or upset Stiles when he seemed to be in a good mood

He had gotten into some pretty big trouble that way and it seemed like today would be no different

"Look Derek! This one has jingle bells on it!"

_Ugh_

"I think I'll take this one, see any you like?" he asked, holding up a red and white sweater with a picture of a bug-eyed cat wearing a collar of jingle bells on it

Derek made a face, a very, very pained face

"No," he grumbled

"Well that's ok, these aren't the only options,"

Just as the werewolf was about to let out a sincere sigh of releif and thank the powers that be-

"I see some ugly Christmas onesies over there,"

"I'll take the sweater," he grouched

Stiles clicked his tongue, looking through some sweaters and humming to himself

"You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch-"

"Stop that!"

"Oh look at this one Derek!!" the spark cried, turning and gesturing to one of the most hideous things Derek had ever seen

"I'd rather not own anything that depicts Santa hula-dancing but thanks anyway,"

"Oh what about this one? The nose really lights up!" Stiles suggested, grabbing at a rudolph sweater

"No, nothing 3D," he sighed, and really, he couldn't even believe he actually had to SAY that...

"What about this then?" he asked, holding up a sweater full of dancing reindeer in sunglasses

"I cannot believe I have to say this," Derek sighed, turning to him and hanging the... thing.... back up

"Ok let me make something clear, nothing 3D, nothing dancing, nothing with sex, nudity, drugs, alcohol, innuendos, or bodily functions, and nothing interactive, meaning no lights, no music, no holographic performances, ok?"

Stiles blinked at him, completely silent, and for a moment Derek's heart sank and he worried that he had been too rough, that he had been too harsh and actually upset the other

"What about this one?" he asked a moment later, holding out a sweater depicting a line of penguins wearing sunglasses and ice skating

Derek heaved a sigh

Atleast it didn't light up...

"Alright... alright fi-" he paused, eyes catching something else and marching forward, grabbing a black sweater with a few cardinals on it

Not dancing cardinals

Not singing cardinals

Not cardinals wearing sunglasses and pooping on a nearby Santa

Just. Freaking. BIRDS.

"This one," he said immediately

Stiles squinted

"I feel like you're missing the point of the 'ugly' thing,"

"It's a Christmas sweater Stiles, it was sitting right beside one that has a Santa riding a unicorn on it, it qualifies,"

Stiles sighed with his entire body, rolling his eyes

"Leave it to you to find a black Christmas sweater," he grumbled

Derek just shrugged, putting it in the shopping cart and heading for the Christmas decor

"You've got garlic in your soul Mr. Grinch...."

"Stop that!" Derek hissed

Stiles snickered, feeling his phone vibrate and taking it out of his pocket

"Um... hey Der, do you wanna go ahead and look at lights? I'm gonna be a second, gotta help Scott through this musical mayhem with Kira,"

Derek stared at him strangely, eyes narrowed as he sensed the uptick in his heartbeat, but he decided to let it go, it wasn't worth the time right now, so he headed over to the lights, sighing and mumbling to himself about it

**Scotty**

_How's the sweater/tree/decorating shopping going?_

**You**

_Great! I actually managed to get him a sweater and we're going to look at lights_

**Scotty**

_Really??_

**You**

_Yep! Operation: Give Derek The Best Christmas/Birthday Ever is officially kicking off!_


End file.
